Vermillion
by Jjah-Jjah
Summary: With her memories regained, Wanda sets out to put an end to her father's reign of terror once and for all. Except. . . Maybe this whole "team" thing wasn't such a smart idea after all. . . [on hiatus]
1. Enter Robin Hood

It is I, Jjah-Jjah! I bet all you people out there missed me! *crickets chirrup* Erm. Yeah. Here we finally have Vermillion! I broke my toe today! Isn't that lovely?  
  
Ok. This count as your first and final warning! There are several OC s in this fic. Mostly, to fill up Wanda's little group. HOWEVER there are some characters that are not original. In the comics, Wanda was primarily an Avengers character, so I stole some characters from the Avengers and messed them up so they'd fit the fic. Got a problem with it? Tough cookies. Moving on.  
  
IF YOU HAVE NOT READ PERSPECTIVE, THIS FIC WILL MAKE NO SENSE WHATSOEVER! Got it? You will be hopelessly confused! Ok! Moving on..  
  
Disclaimer: There's a hole it the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza. There's a hole in the bucket, I don't own X-men! (or anything from Marvel comics!)  
  
***  
  
Chapter One: Enter Robin Hood  
  
Pietro Maximoff, aka Quicksilver, was in dire straits.  
  
He pressed his form into the shadows as he crept down the hallway, praying that he would remain undetected. He winced visibly as a loose floorboard creaked beneath him. He was being hunted. His superior speed could be of no help. No matter where he went, she always found him. She seemed to take some kind of perverse delight in tracking him down and making his life miserable. He swallowed nervously and took another step towards the end of the hallway.  
  
It was then that he felt a cold hand on his shoulder.  
  
Pietro screamed like a girl, jumped a foot in the air, and turned around to see. . . Lance. . .  
  
"Geeze you idiot! Whadadyadothatfor?" Pietro gasped, clutching his chest as if he might go into cardiac arrest at any moment.  
  
Lance raised a brow. "Whatever! I just brought you your mail, your royal highness." With that said he dumped a pile of letters into Pietro's hands. "What's up with you anyway?"  
  
Pietro clutched the letters and then glanced around the hall as if checking for evil ninjas. "*Her*. She's following me and she won't leave me alone!"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"You know who! Her! She's hunting me down like a dog; determined to make my days a perpetual wheel of never-ending torment!!!!!" Pietro breathed heavily and abandoned clutching the letters in favor of Lance's shirt.  
  
"I seriously don't know what you're talking about!" Lance exclaimed and tried to pry the deranged boy off of his attire.  
  
"Shhhhh! Not so loud! She's probably stalking me as we speak!"  
  
"Who?!!"  
  
"Jillian!"  
  
Lance raised an eyebrow. He had thought Pietro was talking about Wanda, but Jillian? Other than that odd first meeting, she had shown little interest in Pietro at all.  
  
"Um, dude. Jillian's in the living room with Blob watching Monty Python. . . And she has been for the past couple hours."  
  
Pietro blinked. "No way! She's been following me forever! I felt it!"  
  
Unenthused, Lance dragged Pietro down stairs into the living room. There on the couch, Freddy and Jillian sat, eating cheesy puffs and laughing like idiots.  
  
"Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!" The TV exclaimed. As Freddy and Jillian burst into another torrent of laughter, Pietro developed an eye tick and retreated to the kitchen.  
  
"I am not crazy!" He spouted, "I know she was there!" He turned to reiterate his saneness to Lance, but his fellow mutant had already retreated. Pietro stifled a sigh and sat in one of the rickety kitchen chairs. Maybe the stresses of leadership were becoming too much. . . Yeah right. . .  
  
"Pieeetrooo!" A voice behind him sang.  
  
Pietro turned and screamed.  
  
***  
  
Wanda sat on a bench in the park impatiently waiting for her friend to show up. Jillian still didn't seem to have the telling time thing down quite pat yet. It was then that Jillian came skipping up the sidewalk.  
  
"Sorry I'm late!" She chirruped, sitting down, "I had to finish reducing your brother to a sniveling pulp."  
  
Wanda grinned in understanding. "What is it with you anyway? You don't know him, but you seem to have more fun tormenting him than I do."  
  
"What can I say? He's just so much fun to tease! I love the way he reacts! Are we going soon?"  
  
"This afternoon. We'll be there tomorrow morning. Everything is packed, right?"  
  
"Yup. I hid the bags under the bed, so no one will know we're leaving."  
  
Wanda smiled slightly and gazed upwards toward the clouds. They would be leaving soon. Thanks to Jillian's ability to see through another person's eyes, they had been able read whatever papers were on Magneto's desk whenever Gambit came to give his boss a report. They had discovered that Jillian's power was limited to people she had met or seen in person, the only exception being Wanda herself. By reading these papers, they had recently discovered that Magneto was investigating a mutant who might be out to get him. The mutant's possible location was not that far from Bayville; Wanda had bought train tickets to the obscure town earlier. The plan was to get there before Magneto sent his toadies to investigate, see if they could get the mutant to join them, and then get out.  
  
"What'll we do if this person doesn't want to join our nameless group?" Jillian asked.  
  
"Then we'll just leave him alone and go about our merry business."  
  
"Awww. I was hoping we'd get to torture him some."  
  
"We can do that too."  
  
***  
  
"Move!" Wanda snarled, pushing a particularly slow passenger out of the way. Jillian followed in the path Wanda was plowing though all the people till they finally made it to their booth.  
  
"Damn!" Wanda exclaimed as she sank down in the seat. "I hate being around so many people at once!"  
  
Jillian sat across from her and began munching on the bag of sour gummi worms she had bought at the gift shop. "Me too. It's probably because we're used to being all alone in little white rooms and only talking to the voices in our head."  
  
The conductor came through, and they showed their tickets.  
  
The train built up speed and the scenery began to whiz by. Wanda leaned her forehead against the cool glass.  
  
"Gummi worm?" Jillian offered.  
  
***  
  
Around ten, the next morning, the conductor traversed the aisles of the train, informing everyone that they had arrived at their destination. Wanda and Jillian soon found themselves outside on the platform watching the train go on to a more important destination.  
  
Jillian yawned. "Let's go find caffeine."  
  
Wanda concurred.  
  
***  
  
Merton was an obscure, mid-sized town. It was large enough that everybody didn't know each other, and small enough to have a huge gossip column in the newspaper. It was a hotel town at most. People stopped and stayed there on their way to New York City, Niagara Falls, and other important tourist locations. However in Merton itself, there was not much to see. It was mid-afternoon when the two girls were done casing the town's layout. They stopped for lunch at an outdoor café.  
  
Wanda scowled and poked a chicken finger into some barbecue sauce. "We haven't heard a single rumor about anything weird in this godforsaken town. Have you sensed anything?"  
  
"Patience, my dear." Jillian drawled, turning the page of the newspaper she was reading. "My powers don't work like that and you know it."  
  
Wanda frowned. "I know, but I'm afraid Magneto's flunkies might get here and see us if we don't hurry up. Seeing me here when I'm supposed to have no memories in a town where a fellow Magneto hater is supposed to be would be a bit too much of a coincidence."  
  
"What did you expect? That this alleged mutant was going to stand on top if the highest building with a blinking neon sign that says 'I hate Magneto, if you do too, call me at 1-800-kick the bucket'?"  
  
"No!!" Wanda fumed, "I'm just worried because."  
  
"Bingo!" Jillian interrupted.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Look at this!" Jillian handed over the section of the paper that dealt with recent crimes. Wanda grabbed the paper making it rustle loudly and read.  
  
The article Jillian indicated was about a series of robberies had had taken place in and near the wilderness park in the eastern part of town. The assailant was said to perform his robberies with a bow and arrow. He appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. Because his robberies took place in the forest and because of his odd choice of weapons, he had been dubbed "Robin Hood". Wanda looked over the paper and raised a brow at Jillian. Jillian smiled.  
  
"If he's not one of us, then he's just a random weirdo."  
  
". . ."  
  
***  
  
"Why are we here again?"  
  
"Because the guy only mugs people at night. Besides, this was your idea, remember?"  
  
"Oh yeah. . . Rich guy at 3 o'clock!"  
  
Sure enough, to their right there was a middle-aged man in an expensive looking suit carrying a briefcase and walking quickly down the sidewalk. Wanda and Jillian immediately began to follow. As they ducked behind a tree Wanda's brow furrowed in confusion.  
  
"This doesn't make any sense. Why would such an obviously loaded guy go walking in the woods in the middle of the night where a lot a robberies are happening?"  
  
"Maybe he has insomnia. Let's go!" Jillian started around the tree, only to be yanked back by Wanda just in time.  
  
"Hark! What have we here?" A voice yelled from the treetops. The man stopped walking and the girls looked up. Standing on a high branch was a tall blonde guy wearing green and holding a bow.  
  
Wanda turned and raised a brow at a sheepish looking Jillian. "I think my vote is for the random weirdo."  
  
It was then that Robin Hood drew back the empty bow. An arrow of yellow energy materialized between his fingers, then it flew through the air and pinned the man's briefcase to a tree.  
  
"Ha! I was right; he is a mutant!" Jillian beamed.  
  
Meanwhile, Robin Hood swung down from the treetops on a conveniently placed vine and skidded to a halt in front of the man. He formed another energy arrow and tapped the man's shoulder.  
  
"You wouldn't happen to have any extra cash, now would you?"  
  
"That was a crummy line." Jillian whispered from behind the tree. Wanda, however, was not paying attention. There was that prickle of unease again. Something was wrong. As the random weirdo accepted the man's money gleefully, she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. She snapped her head around and it only took her a minute to realize what the movement was.  
  
"Shit! This is a sting; there are cops everywhere!"  
  
"Oh well then, let's get out of here." Jillian perked and started to leave.  
  
"Oh no you don't! We went through all this shit to get here and we're not leaving now!"  
  
Wanda started moving closer to the mutant, yanking Jillian behind her.  
  
"Ack!" Said Jillian.  
  
"Hey, Man-In-Tights! You're in the middle of a trap!" Wanda yelled just as the police released the tear gas.  
  
"The apocalypse is upon us!!!!!" Jillian shrieked.  
  
Robin, realizing he was in a spot of trouble, leapt away from his victim with amazing agility. A row of police officers raised their weapons towards him only to have them shot out of their hands by only one of his arrows. He stood there looking smug, failing to see the others behind him.  
  
"Look out you idiot!" Wanda yelled. She raised her arm towards the weapons as they fired. All the bullets somehow missed their target and began ricocheting off trees back towards the shooters. Wanda ran up beside Robin and they both tried to get through the tear gas and away. It took a few moments for her to realize Jillian was not with them.  
  
"Jillian?!" she yelled back into the cloud of gas.  
  
"Present." came Jillian's voice from farther up the trail.  
  
Wanda growled and made a tree fall over to shield their escape.  
  
***  
A while later, once the chaos of the sting was behind them, Wanda, Jillian, and the random weirdo collapsed onto the forest floor. They lie there for a while, coughing and rubbing their eyes. It was then that the random weirdo spoke.  
  
"Thank you ladies! That was a timely rescue. Now may I ask who you are?"  
  
"You first." Wanda coughed.  
  
"My name is Hawkeye, but you beautiful, may call me Clint. Clint Barton." He reached out, took her hand, and kissed it.  
  
Wanda raised her eyebrow, blinked, and coughed in an unladylike manner. Who the heck was this guy? She took the chance to get a good look at him. He was about a couple inches taller than she was. His hair was golden blond and just down to his shoulders. His eyes were cerulean and looked rather mischievous.  
  
"Do you like what you see?" He inquired innocently. Wanda realized she had been staring and ripped her hand away with a snarl. She moved to smack him in the head as she would Toad, but his reflexes were too fast.  
  
"I'm the Scarlet Witch. She's Eye-spy."  
  
Jillian waggled her fingers in greeting, grinning broadly at the recent display. Hawkeye inclined his head towards the other girl, but quickly turned his attention back to Wanda.  
  
"Now exactly what were you ladies doing in this neck of the woods? You're not from around here."  
  
"We were looking for you." Wanda grimaced as she sat up.  
  
"Me? What for?" He smiled disarmingly at her. Wanda stared, unsure of how to react. Finally Jillian took up the slack.  
  
"I say Magneto, you say.?"  
  
Almost instantly, Hawkeye's demeanor changed.  
  
"What do you know about *him*?" He hissed, eyes narrowing.  
  
"More than we'd like to." Wanda stated. "What is he to you?"  
  
"If it wasn't for him, my parents would be alive right now." Hawkeye answered, standing up. "What is he to *you*?" He turned her question back at her. Jillian stiffened. Wanda stared at him coldly through her bangs and then slowly rose to her feet.  
  
"He's my father." She said quietly.  
  
Hawkeye frowned deeply, then looked over to Jillian. "I suppose you're related to him too?"  
  
"Nope!" Jillian grinned, "I'm just a friend Wanda met in the asylum!"  
  
"Asylum?"  
  
"My *father* abandoned me in an insane asylum when I was eight years old." Wanda said through her teeth, the anger evident. "As far as I'm concerned, he's a heartless monster who should be put out of his misery. I was too much for him to control, so he got rid of me. Then I escaped and when I stared making a nuisance of myself he had my memories erased. Then Jillian restored my memories and he doesn't know. . . Now I'm trying to get rid of him once and for all. . . But I need help. That's why we came looking for you. We're looking for people who hate Magneto as much as I do, so we can work together to stop him. You got a problem with that?"  
  
For a moment the surrounding forest seemed to glow with menace, with anger. Hawkeye's expression softened slightly.  
  
"When I first saw Magneto he was giving some kind of mutant supremacy rally. He demonstrating his power against the police and a bunch of humans got caught in the crossfire. My folks were among them. He did it on purpose. He *wanted* us to see it. . ." His voice trailed off. He looked away.  
  
"I'm sorry." Wanda said uncertainly. He looked back at her.  
  
"No. It's not you're fault. I can't blame you for what he did, especially when he did stuff to you too. . ." The silence that followed was long. Of course we all know who broke it. . .  
  
"So! Does that mean you'll join our merry band?" Jillian said cheerfully. Hawkeye smiled at the choice of words.  
  
"Hell, why not?"  
  
"YAY!" Jillian cried and started doing some sort of victory dance.  
  
Wanda smiled.  
  
"But only on one condition. . ."  
  
Wanda frowned. "Which is?"  
  
Clint grinned and took Wanda's hand again. "What are your real names?"  
  
"Wanda Maximoff."  
  
Jillian stopped her dance momentarily.  
  
"Jillian West!"  
  
Jillian started dancing again.  
  
Clint and Wanda smiled at each other while Jillian kept of dancing. A few minutes later, when she was still dancing Wanda got irked.  
  
"Would you quit that??!!!"  
  
"You don't need pants for the victory dance! ACK!"  
  
***  
  
Yay! First chapter done! You have no idea how much trouble this stupid thing had been giving me! Now, be a good and true person and click the little button and type stuff!!!!  
  
Farewell my mooses! 


	2. Whoo! More Scary Stuff!

It is I, Jjah-Jjah! And here you all thought I had died and been devoured by sea monsters! But really, I'm sorry it's taken so long for this stupid frikken chapter to get out. It's not even very good! Why do I even try? WHY?!  
  
Ed: Umm. Because I put bird lice in your sheets whenever you stop writing...  
  
JJ: That was you?! You little--  
  
Ed: Please! There could be children in the audience!  
  
Shut up! Whatever. Anyway... Lets get to the reviews so we can get on to the damn fic.... Lord I need a vacation.....  
  
Taineyah: Sorry for keeping you waiting! Thank you!  
  
Gwarestrin: Oooh! I'm getting recommendations! Thank you and your cat sounds awesome like a possom! (that's a good thing)  
  
roguehobbit: arrgh! Sorry I haven't updated lately! I don't know a hell of a lot about the Avengers either, so we're nearly even. Clint *is* an Avengers character, though in the comics he's not a mutant. He's just a guy with a bow and arrows who fights crime. What can I say?  
  
Twilight: YES! I have decided to put the Vision in this thang! He'll be revamped though, like Clint, so he won't really be a lot like his is in the comics, but hey! He'll still be cool and totally deserving of good ol' red.  
  
Wizardess Gal: Too much sugar. But thank you!  
  
Keeper Of The Apocolypse: I love your new pen name; it rocks! Mental institutions are always fun! I however, just have to go visit my family to see insane people. I'm serious. Do you have any idea how many schizophrenics (paranoid and otherwise) there in my family? A whole lot! Whew! Glad I got that off my chest....  
  
Samster The Hampster: lol. Thank you!  
  
***  
  
Well. Disclaimer TIME!  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing accept this little parrot marionette I bought at the Dollar Tree, his name is Dickie, but YOU CAN"T HAVE HIM! TAKE THE DAMN X-MEN YOU CAN'T HAVE MY PARROT! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *ahem*  
  
Chapter Two: Whoo! More Scary Stuff!!!!  
  
***************  
  
"I'll have you know that my brain does not work in that manner!!!!!" Jillian bellowed.  
  
So began the day at the BoM residence...  
  
"Arrgh!"  
  
"Gimme!"  
  
"Is there, or is there not any food in this stupid house?!"  
  
"Blob! You have to cook those before you eat them!"  
  
"Help me, please!!!!!"  
  
"Shush, my little Pie! Just hold still..."  
  
"Aahhhhhhhhh!"  
  
"Which one of you idiots dented my Jeep?!"  
  
"Not me!"  
  
"Let go!"  
  
"Leave me alone!!!"  
  
"Shut up!!!!!!"  
  
"Uhhhhh... Where are the pop-tarts?"  
  
"Hey baby, got any plans?"  
  
"Yes! I have a root canal scheduled."  
  
"ORANGE JUICE!!! BOO YEAH!!!"  
  
***  
  
After a healthy and relaxing breakfast, everyone was sprawled around the house in disarray digesting his or her respective meals.  
  
"Nothing... Nothing... Nothing. . . Nothing. . ." Freddy murmured as he flipped through TV channels.  
  
"Ooh! Go back one!" Jillian interjected. "It's Golden Girls!"  
  
"Awww. I wanted to watch Oprah!"  
  
"We are *not* watchin' Oprah, yo."  
  
"What do you want to watch Toad?"  
  
"Anything, but Oprah. . ."  
  
Abruptly the conversation was interrupted by Lance coming in with the mail.  
  
"Mail call!!!" He yelled. Everyone somehow found themselves within close proximity of the living room as Lance began to sort through the paper.  
  
"Alright. . . Blob." He tossed a comic book in the larger boy's direction. Blob immediately grabbed it and forgot all arguments concerning Oprah.  
  
"Pietro. Pietro. Pierto. Bill. Pietro. Pietro. Why do you get so much mail anyway?" Lance asked as he tossed the majority of the pile's bulk towards the speed demon.  
  
"I'm just lucky with the ladies!" Pietro preened and sniffed an especially perfumed letter.  
  
"Whatever. . ." Lance said distractedly as he went through the letters once again. He threw a couple of magazines at Toad, kept one of his own, threw several bills into the trash can, and finally he came to the point when only one odd looking letter was left. He looked at it in disbelief.  
  
"Wanda?"  
  
Wanda perked from where she had been leaning against the wall.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You've got a letter. ." He said and held it out towards her. Wanda frowned and looked it. Everyone stared. Wanda never got any letters.  
  
Wanda turned the letter over in her hands and felt a strange thrill move up her fingertips. The paper looked old. . . There wasn't even an envelope, the paper was simply folded twice and sealed with a red wax seal stamped with a crescent moon insignia. Wanda's name was hand written across the front in flowing elegant calligraphy. Wanda's eyes rose and met with Jillian's briefly. Then she retreated to her room. Once everyone had gone back to what they were doing, Jillian followed.  
  
"What is it?" She asked as she closed the door behind her.  
  
"I don't know. . ." Wanda muttered as she peeled off the wax. Once it was off she unfolded the paper and read the message within. As she read, her eyes widened and a small smile graced her lips. Then a serious expression took its place and Wanda suddenly rose, grabbed her jacket and began to leave.  
  
"What does it say?!" Jillian said, jumping up and down in excitement. Wanda continued out of the house.  
  
"We're going to get Clint." She said in reply.  
  
Jillian huffed in annoyance, but followed.  
  
***  
  
"Beautiful, what is it exactly that you think is so important?" Clint smiled as he sat on a picnic table in the park they were currently in.  
  
"Yeah! What's so important about that thing that can't wait?" Jillian asked as she dangled from a tree branch a few inches over the picnic table.  
  
"You know, you could have told us while we were still at my hotel."  
  
Wanda sighed in annoyance. "Well *excuse* me. It's my own personal belief that it's better paranoid than sorry. . ." She took a deep breath. "It's from Agatha Harkness."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"That's the witch-lady that helped Wanda learn to control her powers when she first got out of the crazy house."  
  
"Ah. What does she want?"  
  
"She wants me to come visit her. . ." Wanda showed them the letter. "She lives in Whisper Hill, New York. All the expenses are paid. There are three train tickets enclosed."  
  
"Ooh! So we get to come too?" Jillian smiled.  
  
"Wait a minute. How did she know there'd be three of us? I only met you guys a few days ago!"  
  
"Because she's a witch-lady! Oh, Wanda this is such an opportunity!"  
  
"For what?"  
  
"Come on, we're talking about a serious witchcraft thing going on here! You're the Scarlet Witch. It could broaden your horizons!"  
  
"Suuure it can. Now, let's get ready ok? The tickets are dated for tomorrow."  
  
"We can buy you a POINTY HAT!"  
  
***  
  
"That is the coolest house I have ever seen in my life."  
  
"Ewewewewewew!!!!"  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
The Victorian style mansion on the outskirts of Whisper Hill was undoubtedly cool.  
  
"Clint! Would you *please* stop making those horror movie noises?!" Wanda snapped.  
  
"Anything for you, beautiful."  
  
A high stone fence covered in gargoyles surrounded the property. Beyond the wailing intricate iron gate was an aging cobblestone courtyard. The front yard was unkempt enough to make the house look positively spooky without leading you to believe that no one lived there. Wind chimes adorned the creaky porch and reflective gazing balls of different colors were scattered here and there. The paint was peeling from the house itself and only a few yellow lights shone from the upper stories.  
  
The three of them climbed up onto the porch walked to the door and rang the bell. Rather than the traditional ding-dong, the tone was actually that of the Big Ben clock in England. They could hear the sound echoing through out the house as if the house's interior was an empty void.  
  
"Ooooh! Scary!" Clint grinned.  
  
Wanda shook her fist at his head. "You know, if you keep going on, I'm gonna. . ." The door squeaking open by itself interrupted her threat. Clint raised a golden brow and then looked at Wanda as if to say: 'I rest my case'. Wanda growled and walked in, Jillian, then Clint followed.  
  
The house's interior was not an empty void. There was a deep hued hardwood floor covered with a burgundy Persian rug. An old grandfather clock ticked consistently against the left wall. A few white-eyed paintings stared out of the darkness and a swooping staircase ahead of them led upstairs.  
  
Side by side, Wanda and Jillian took a few steps forward. Under the sound of the squeaking floorboards beneath their feet, they missed the trapdoor that opened up under Clint and the concerned "meep" noise he made as he fell into it and disappeared.  
  
"Welcome to my home." Agatha Harkness' serene voice drifted out of the dark room she emerged from. "I'm glad to see you could make it." She stood there regally in her old fashioned dress and a shawl wrapped around her thin shoulders. Her white hair was in elegant disarray and in her bony arms a black cat was nestled, staring knowingly.  
  
"It's good to see you again." Wanda nodded. "This is my friend Jillian West and this is. . ." She turned around to find Clint gone. "Where's?"  
  
"Maybe something ate him. . ." Jillian deadpanned.  
  
"Er. Yeah, well. Why exactly did you invite me over here?"  
  
"All in good time." Ms. Harkness glided closer. "First however, I would like to talk to your friend here."  
  
"Me?" Jillian looked around for someone else the woman could be referring to.  
  
"Yes. Wanda, you will not mind waiting in the library till we are finished will you?" It wasn't really a question; it was more of a statement.  
  
Wanda shrugged, and all of them walked towards a darkened hall. Agatha opened a door, and indicated a door at the end of the hall with light streaming from beneath it to Wanda. Then she and Jillian entered the other room and disappeared. Wanda sighed and then started moving towards the light. When she reached the door she opened it silently.  
  
It was indeed a library. Three of the room's four walls were covered in books from floor to ceiling. The floor was ebony hardwood with a crimson Persian rug adorning it. When Wanda stepped on its plush she could not help but smile. It looked exactly like a magic carpet. The light came from a fire in the fireplace, which burned merrily, yet gave off no sound and only a very soft heat. Various figurines and trinkets were placed strategically around the room. She stepped over to a shelf to examine the books. They all looked and smelled old. Several of them were in languages she couldn't understand. She pulled a red one off the shelf and opened it randomly. The pages were filled with strange fantastical characters that gave her the impression that they had taken a long time to transcribe. She pulled up a chair and began flipping the pages trying to make sense of it as she waited.  
  
***  
  
Half an hour later Wanda, to her surprise, found she could actually make out the meaning of some of the words in the book. It was like a puzzle. The information was hidden in the pattern, snarled there like tangles. Wanda jumped when a warm hand brushed her shoulder.  
  
Her hostess stood behind her silently. Wanda wasn't quite sure what to do. Perhaps she should not have touched the book. As she attempted to put it back on the shelf, Agatha's voice stopped her.  
  
"You understand that book?"  
  
Wanda hesitated. "Well, yes. . . Some of it."  
  
Agatha took the book gently from Wanda's grasp. "It would take a normal apprentice witch months to translate a single word of this book. . ." She said absently. Wanda had the grace to look confused. "That is why I called you here. Your potential is too great to be ignored." She put the book back on the shelf.  
  
"Potential? For what? You already helped me to control my mutant abilities."  
  
"I am not speaking of your mutant abilities, formidable though they are, I am speaking of your potential in witchcraft. . ."  
  
Wanda blinked, confused. It was then that she noticed someone was conspicuously absent.  
  
"Where's Jillian?"  
  
The old woman narrowed her eyes slightly, like a cat, at the change in subject before answering, "I sent her on an errand."  
  
"Oh." That was why she had pulled Jillian, a stranger, aside into another room to speak with her? Suuure it was. . . There was a pregnant pause till Wanda was roused by something jumping into her lap. The cat Agatha had been holding earlier was blinking its yellow eyes up at her. Wanda smiled slightly and stroked its head softly. The animal leaned its head into the caress and purred.  
  
"What's its name?" Wanda asked.  
  
"His name is Ebony." Agatha answered, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "He is my familiar." With that said, Ebony let out a yowl and hopped from Wanda's lap, to his mistress'. They both sat staring at Wanda for a moment and for that moment they almost looked the same. Then the older woman broke the spell by speaking.  
  
"In all my years I have never met a person with as much talent and ability as yourself, and I have lived for quite some time. . . I have seen your plan. To take revenge upon your father and see him defeated." She paused. "The path you have taken will be a difficult one; it will not be an easy task, but you have learned that. . . You have already chosen strong allies and are likely to find more. . . If this is what you truly desire, I will assist you, so long as you allow me to train you as my apprentice."  
  
Wanda frowned as the analytical part of her brain took over. "What makes you think that I need help?" It was an honest enough question.  
  
"Take your allies where you can find them. You never know what might lie ahead." She leaned back in the chair and the light from the fire ghosted over her features. Then she added absently, "You will need to be stronger than you are now to overcome the obstacles that lie before you."  
  
Wanda leaned back n her chair as well and let out a loud tired sigh. She did not trust many people in the world. She had little reason to, after all. Yet Agatha Harkness was one of those few people she considered trustworthy. She had only known the woman for so long, but in that short time, Agatha had undone more damage than Xavier had with all his years of therapy. Agatha understood. . . And that in itself was a miracle.  
  
"All right... But I don't have time to stay here and learn magic tricks all the time; I have a lot more important things to do."  
  
Agatha smiled. "It will not take long. You will only have to come here every few months or so... The rest of your training will not require me. . ."  
  
"What exactly does this 'training' consist of anyway?"  
  
Agatha stood and walked over to stand in front of the fire.  
  
"Nothing. All I have to do is open a door."  
  
***  
  
"This is about as pathetic as pathetic-ness can get." Jillian muttered to herself. You'd think that after spending over 50% of one's life in an asylum would influence you to keep away from the damn things, but nooooo. The asylum that she and Wanda had been in was most certainly not an extra special and happy place to spend one's childhood; at least it had been well funded and well kept. She couldn't imagine spending her childhood here. This one was a dump. She was surprised that the place hadn't already been shut down for having too many rats per capita. As she practically skipped down the under lighted decrepit hall, Jillian let her mind wander back to the conversation that had gotten her into this mess in the first place.  
  
***  
  
The door to the study that Agatha Harkness had led her into clicked shut behind them.  
  
"So, O Scary Lady, what may this humble schizoid do for you?" Jillian asked.  
  
"I would like to thank you for helping Wanda."  
  
Jillian blinked.  
  
The old woman looked down and walked over to a small shelf along the wall. "I consider her to be close to my heart. If you had not helped her to restore her memories, she would have been lost to me forever."  
  
"Oh, that's ok."  
  
Agatha picked up a dusty object off the shelf and examined it carefully. "There are also some things that you should know."  
  
"Such as?"  
  
"Have you not wondered why you are able to communicate telepathically with Wanda, but no one else?"  
  
"Well. . . Now that you mention it, it doesn't really fit with the other stuff I do. . ."  
  
"I believe that this phenomena stems from the fact that yours and Wanda's powers have a common root."  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Wanda's power is what I call the hex ability. With this ability she affects the realm of possibilities. In other words, she can make the impossible very possible indeed. I have found that many mutants have some form of the hex ability, if only latent. . . You are such a mutant. You abilities to see through another's eyes as well as the abilities of which you are not yet aware are derivatives of the hex."  
  
"So, what you're saying is that I can talk to Wanda in my head, because we basically have the same power?"  
  
"Yes, but Wanda's power is different from your own in that it is much more concentrated and pure. Wanda is the epitome of what the hex ability is."  
  
"Oh. Well that's peachy keen and all, but why exactly are you telling me this?"  
  
Agatha sighed. "Wanda has set a task for herself that she cannot fulfill alone. She has already taken the first steps; however, by trying to find allies-- unlike her father, who tries to find tools-- and it is my desire to help her in this endeavor. You are Wanda's most loyal ally at this time. That is why I am informing you of what needs to be known to the best of my ability. . . However, more things need to occur before anything can happen. . ."  
  
She said the last sentence absently, as if she had not meant to say it out loud. Then the old woman moved from beside the shelf to stand in front of Jillian. She held out the object she had been toying with earlier in the palm of her wrinkled hand.  
  
"Many more allies have yet to be found. This might lead you to one of them: a mutant in dire need of your help."  
  
Jillian took the object. It was a small sphere, made of cloudy yellow quartz. "What is it?"  
  
"It is a transport spell. Turn it clock-wise and it will take you to where the mutant is. Turn it counter clock-wise and it will bring you back here again. I am sending you because like you and Wanda, this mutant has been kept in an insane asylum because of his differences. I am unsure of his exact location, so you will have you rely on your knowledge of how an asylum works to find him."  
  
Jillian smiled. "Alrighty then! Sounds like fun! I have only one question."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Should you be giving a crazy person like me a magical thingy?"  
  
Agatha chuckled. "Magic is often dangerous to those who do not understand that when one uses magic, they cannot use reason. When magic is used, different rules apply to reality. If one tries to use reason along with magic, the result is often catastrophic. However, since you do not seem to use reason anyway, you will be perfectly safe."  
  
"OK! In that case I bid thee adieu."  
  
Jillian grinned haphazardly and then a flash of light engulfed the room. Agatha Harkness stood there in the darkness, suddenly alone. Once her eyes had adjusted, she glided out to attend to her other guest.  
  
***  
  
Jillian had been surprised when she appeared in the asylum's lobby. She had expected to see somebody, but the room was hauntingly empty. A single dusty security camera was the lone sentinel, and its range of vision was so diminutive, she didn't even have to worry about it.  
  
It was at this point that she realized she had no idea where the mutant was.  
  
"Well. Wanda was in maximum security."  
  
So she set off in search of maximum security. As she skipped down the halls, she wondered at the lack of guards. And the silence. Back at the hospital she and Wanda had resided in, night was a time when silence was rarely heard. Someone was always screaming about something... Here however, it was as if no living thing existed. How odd.  
  
Lost in her thoughts, Jillian almost didn't notice the illusive security guards till she was almost on them. Panicked, she ducked into an alcove as two of them passed, mumbling about getting pizza. After she was sure they were gone, she peeped around the corner. There were a few more guards in faded uniform, huddled around an old coffee machine as if it were the last husk of their miserable lives. The only one who actually looked like he was doing something was sitting importantly in front of a door labeled maximum security -- that seemed to lead to the basement...  
  
*They're keeping the poor guy in the basement?!* Thought Jillian incredulously.  
  
"Shoot..." She mumbled aloud as she tried to figure a way around the guard. It wasn't as if she had any super-special powers to distract them or just knock them out of the way. Her ability to influence others had all but disappeared since hr escape... As she nervously glanced around, worried about the other guards returning, Jillian found herself inspired by the god of James Bond movies and noticed the air conditioning vent twisting its way downstairs.  
  
She grinned.  
  
***  
  
"What do you mean 'open a door'?" Wanda asked.  
  
"I do not mean literally... I mean that I must open the door of possibilities that lies within your mind. It would cause many things that would not normally occur to happen around you... Like opening a 'can of worms', if you will..."  
  
"What in the heck does opening this thing in my head have to do with you training me?"  
  
"The things that happen to you will help you develop your powers; as well as lead you to possible allies."  
  
"Really..." Wanda hoped she sounded as unconvinced as she felt. It wasn't as if she enjoyed having random people romp about in her head, but it seemed to be her destiny... Oh, what the hell?  
  
"If it hurts, I'll break your arm..."  
  
Agatha smiled as if she didn't believe that last statement for a moment. She reached over and put her wrinkled hands on the girl's temples.  
  
"Relax. This will not hurt a bit."  
  
Famous last words.  
  
Wanda gasped as she felt a surge of power run through her from where the old woman's hands made contact. Suddenly she was paralyzed; she couldn't even breathe. Her body felt as if it had been immersed in scalding hot water. She tried to cry out, but she still couldn't breathe.  
  
Wanda sensed that she was about to pass out; the diminutive lights in the room blurred and grew. Spots of soft sunset shaded colors swam behind her eyes. Suddenly she was in a vast, endless, infinite space... But it was not empty.  
  
The sunset colors drew together to become distant galaxies and a myriad surrounded her in every direction. She found herself moving towards one of the galaxies at an inexplicable speed. Her whole body tingled and her lungs spasmed, struggling to take a breath as she drew closer to the spiral's center. Just as the starry arms of the galaxy stretched out all around her, it happened...  
  
Her head started to feel very strange. Her forehead tingled, and then began to burn. Then it went numb and she felt as if her entire head was being stretched out like rubber. She became aware of a cosmic wind that seemed to be blowing into her face, blinding her... Then she felt a very distinct push, right in the middle of her forehead. Suddenly everything that had been 'stretched out' snapped back into place; only this time, there seemed to be more of it. It was as if she were trying to force herself back into clothes that were too small.  
  
Still she couldn't breathe...  
  
***  
  
Wanda gasped and drank in mouthfuls of life-giving oxygen. She came back to herself slowly. She was curled up in a velvet-upholstered chair in front of the fireplace. A crocheted blanket was tucked around her and Ebony was warming her lap.  
  
"Here. Drink this." Agatha Harkness offered her hot tea that had not been there before. Once Wanda had taken a few sips the old woman asked, "That was not so bad, now was it?"  
  
Wanda put her cup down on a nearby table and glanced down into Ebony's sleepy gaze before wondering how much force it would take to break a little old lady's arm.  
  
***  
  
"Ick! Ick! Eww!" *smack* "Ow, Damnit!!!" Jillian said as she squirmed down the air-conditioning vent, attempting to be covert.  
  
She wasn't exactly an expert on what the inside of an air- conditioning vent should look like, but she was pretty sure that this wasn't it. There was a good three to six inch layer of dust and crud covering the bottom of it and it was filled with insects and rodent tunnels. In fact, she had uncovered a nest of baby mice a few feet back... They were cute and hairless, but Jillian had to move on... There were more important things at hand...  
  
She was pretty sure she was heading in the right direction. Reasonably sure... At first she had been worried about the guards hearing her, but after smacking her head against the top of the vent a bunch of times and them having no reaction, she figured she was ok. They seemed to be used to large unknown creatures moving through the air vents... That was a lovely thought...  
  
"Eep!" She squeaked as the vent took a sudden dip downwards and she found herself sliding. She made a muffled sound of discomfort as she hit the bottom and found herself nearly buried in the natural habitat of the common house mouse. She pulled herself along a few more feet till she felt the texture difference beneath her fingers that signaled a vent opening.  
  
Jillian pounded at it till it gave way and she found herself in a heap on the concrete basement floor. She leapt to her feet, and listened to see if anyone had heard her. When she was satisfied they hadn't, she went about brushing all the dust out of her hair and clothing. The she had a sneezing fit for five full minutes. Once she finished, she set about exploring.  
  
The basement was like the set of an insane asylum horror movie minus the scary music. The cells were cold and bare and didn't look as if they had been used for a very long time. She started towards the back of the room. No one was here. Maybe this wasn't where the mutant was. She took a step forward and was greeted by a different sound than before.  
  
Set in the floor was a white, square, and aluminum door secured by a silvery padlock.  
  
"In the floor?" Jillian mused aloud.  
  
Unlike the rest of the room, this door was not covered in dust and the padlock looked like new. This had to be it. She squatted down and set about picking the lock, a skill she had learned from an interesting boy named Simon who believed he was Black beard the Pirate. The lock opened with a satisfying click, and Jillian opened the door. It gave a metallic screech.  
  
Jillian looked down into the gloom and shrugged before jumping in. The floor was closer than it looked; unbalanced she landed on her behind. She stood and peered into the inky darkness. She was standing in a square of faint light cast from above and try as she might, she couldn't see anything beyond it. Every time she moved she stirred up a strong mildew smell from the padded floor. The darkness was so thick, she couldn't even tell how big the room was, or if she was alone. Suddenly she wondered if that wasn't the point.  
  
Something caught her attention. She wasn't sure whether it was a movement of a breath, but it was something. She turned her attention towards it.  
  
"Hello? Don't be afraid, I'm here to help you."  
  
There was silence. Just when she was beginning to feel rather stupid, she was answered.  
  
"Who?...." It was a soft, quiet, yet rusty voice.  
  
"My name's Jillian, or Eye-spy, whichever you prefer. I'm a mutant like you. Come with me and I'll get you out of here." She crouched down and extended a hand towards where she thought the voice was coming from.  
  
"Why?..." The voice was in a different location this time, but Jillian kept her hand extended and kept gazing blindly forward.  
  
"Because I know being locked up because you're different isn't particularly enjoyable."  
  
Silence again. Her arm was starting to get a cramp. Momentarily, she questioned the wisdom of this enterprise. Here she was, squatting in the dark, holding out her hand to someone who could leap out of the darkness from any direction and suck out her marrow before she even knew what was happening. Oh joy...  
  
It was then that her straining eyes picked up a tiny amount of movement... Only inches in front of her.  
  
"Come on..." She urged softly.  
  
Then, a pale, long fingered hand with a claw at each fingertip, slowly inched itself into the light and tentatively placed itself in her hand.  
  
***  
  
"Your friend Jillian has returned." Agatha announced out of the blue. "She brought someone with her."  
  
"Who?" Wanda asked. She was too tired from her ordeal to ask how in the hell she knew Jillian was back anyway.  
  
"A mutant." Agatha answered simply, and then slowly stood.  
  
Wanda stroked Ebony soothingly before moving the cat so that she too could stand.  
  
"By the way, I came here with another friend. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"  
  
"You mean the young man who insists on comparing my home to some residence in a B-rated horror movie?"  
  
"That's the one!"  
  
"He's in the dungeon."  
  
"What?!" Wanda yelled at Agatha as she began to leave the room. Wanda followed.  
  
"I mean, he is annoying, but I don't thing he deserves to be put in a dungeon or anything... Why do you have a dungeon?"  
  
"Because." Agatha answered simply. They emerged into a foyer. Agatha reached up and grasped a candlestick holder on the wall and turned it sideways. An invisible seam appeared in the wall and a secret panel opened up. Agatha took a candle from the candlestick, lit it with a gesture, and began descending the spiral staircase within.  
  
Pensively Wanda followed, figuring it was what the old witch expected. Suddenly it occurred to her to check in with her newly arrived friend.  
  
'Jillian?'  
  
*Busy.* Came the short, preoccupied reply.  
  
'Have you seen Clint?'  
  
*Busy!* Jillian said more forcefully, and then shut off the link.  
  
Wanda growled in annoyance, then continued down the cold stone stair. Agatha and Wanda emerged into a labyrinth of criss-crossing hallways. Wanda paused to glance at the intricate stonework, before following Agatha down a seemingly random path through the corridors. They came to a hall lined with doors. All was dark, save for a flickering light coming from beneath one particular door.  
  
Agatha stopped beside it, the candlelight flickering across her features eerily. Wanda stopped and stared at the door.  
  
"Open it." Agatha instructed.  
  
Slowly Wanda complied. The handle squeaked quietly and the door swung open silently. Wanda blinked. Okaaay...  
  
The room resembled of a cozy den, complete with throw rug, sofa, big screen TV, and pictures on the walls. Sitting on the sofa was Clint, thoroughly hypnotized by the DVD that was playing... The Princess Bride...  
  
Wanda grinned evilly and crept up behind the blissfully unaware mutant. She rested her chin lightly on the back of the sofa.  
  
"Is that a chick flick?" She questioned softly.  
  
In response, Clint jumped a foot in the air and shrieked. Once he realized who was watching him and what she had seen him watching, he leapt towards the remote and tried to turn the offending movie off... But only managed to put it on pause... With no other options left, he jumped in front of the TV and tried to block her view of the screen with his body.  
  
"Hi..." He said absently.  
  
"What are you watching Clint?" Wanda questioned, her evil smile deepening.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"It doesn't look like nothing."  
  
"It is!" Clint began fumbling with the DVD player, trying to turn it off.  
  
"Clint..." Wanda said in a singsong voice. "That was a chick flick."  
  
"No it wasn't! You have obviously been up in the tower too long. Your eyes are definitely deceiving you. It-it's just a movie preview! Damn movie previews! Now why would I ever..." He trailed off as Wanda began slowly inching her way towards the remote...  
  
"No!!!" He yelled. They both went for the remote at the diminutive plastic contraption at the same time.  
  
Immediately, a war for the remote began.  
  
"Give it, Clint!"  
  
"No! It's mine!"  
  
"I just want to turn off the pause button."  
  
"Like hell!"  
  
"Why don't you want me to see what you were watching?!"  
  
"Because!"  
  
"Ack! Let go of it!"  
  
"Give up woman! I'll never let go! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never!"  
  
At some point during this intelligent ongoing conversation Agatha Harkness, who was still standing by the door, was joined by two other figures. One was female, had grayish hair, and was slightly dusty. The other was male, tall, pale yet dark, and had its features obscured by an oversized hooded sweatshirt.  
  
"Ummm. Well, to their credit, they're not usually this weird..." Jillian laughed nervously.  
  
The dark mutant gave no verbal answer. Although she couldn't see his face at the moment, she got the distinct impression of an eyebrow being raised.  
  
"It's good to see them enjoying themselves." Agatha smiled. "How did it go?"  
  
"Oh it was fine!" Jillian smiled, "Shader's pretty glad to be out of that dump!"  
  
"Shader?" Agatha mused softly. The mutant hunched over slightly at his name being mentioned and moved slightly closer to Jillian. She smiled and took his hand in reassurance.  
  
"That's his name."  
  
"One who paints with shadows. Now I see."  
  
The sounds of Wanda and Clint's bickering filled the air and no one heard the witch's familiar's meow echo down the empty halls.  
  
***  
  
Isn't this a barrelful of peaches? Whooptie do! Review this thing so I can do stuff... May all of you be blessed with bountiful crops and a lack of fungus on your elm trees!  
  
Farewell!!! 


	3. What Dreams May Come

It is I, Jjah-Jjah! And isn't everyone excited?!  
  
I know you're not excited. I have haven't been updating. Well LA DE FRIKKEN DA! If you had all the homework/graduation/finals/scholarship/college/driving crap that I have to deal with, you'd be slow updating too... Not to mention, I'm working on two fics now so, nyah!  
  
Disclaimer: I disclaim.  
  
Reviews:  
  
roguehobbit: tehehe... guess I took a while on this chappie, huh? Oh well. At least I'm working on it. Oooh. And in an interesting point, Wanda's going to get a familiar too, at little later on.  
  
Goober: Thank you!  
  
****** Onward!!!! ***************************  
  
Chapter Three: What Dreams May Come...  
  
The pink toned sky stretched out endlessly. The sun was setting like a brilliant ruby in the west and Wanda settled down to stare up at the sky and watch the clouds disappear into the night.  
  
She felt oddly at peace, oddly whole. She had only felt this way before in blissful, ignorant dreams. Perhaps it was Agatha's open the door trick. Maybe that was what was making her feel so alive. Normally Wanda *loathed* the color pink (because of the Barbie incident), but the color the sky was at the moment was an altogether different shade. It didn't make you think about sweet sugary things, but rather cool refreshing things like watermelon in the summer.  
  
She closed her eyes for a moment to drink in the last blissful rays of the sun.  
  
And when she opened her eyes everything was completely different.  
  
The sky was black. The sun was gone. The maw of darkness hung over the land and distorted its image into something disturbing and horrible. Cold, sharp cliffs sprang like teeth out of the ground. Gaping bottomless pits suddenly lay opened in the earth. The wind blew down mercilessly. It raged and roared and threw grit and gravel into her face so it stung.  
  
"What the hell?" She snarled, but the sound came out hoarse and was carried away by the wind before it registered even in her own ears. She brought her arms up to shield her face, and then took a few steps forward.  
  
Then the sickening sound of crumbling rock met her ears and she was falling.... She was falling down into one of those bottomless pits and there was nothing she could do. More rock fell lose and began to rain down upon her from above. Numbly she noticed a piece that looked rather sharp as it fell towards her. Then she felt a gut wrenching pain in her abdomen. A warm wet substance flowed up her arms and flew upwards towards the light as she fell inexorably downwards. The noted the color.  
  
Red. It's blood...  
  
***  
  
Wanda wrenched herself out of bed so hard that it gave her a headache. Her breathing was ragged, and she waited impatiently for the shock of the nightmare to pass. And here she thought she was done with the freakish dreams...  
  
Cursing, she hauled herself out of bed and headed towards the blissfully clean kitchen... Two weeks had passed since her visit to Agatha and the initiation of Shader into their little group. The solitary mutant appeared to have had no experience with Magneto, but neither did he appear to have anywhere else to go; a silent yet loyal ally...  
  
Agatha had also given them additional help, by allowing them to stay in a house on some property she owned. Wanda had been thankful for that. Not only did she not know how long she could go on pretending before somebody got suspicious, she also would have had a hard time explaining why so many mutants had begun randomly congregating around her... The house was in a rural setting in a nondescript location close enough to Bayville for it to be convenient, but far away enough not to arouse any suspicion.  
  
One thing Wanda had noticed upon living with her new colleagues was that they all were night owls... As she walked through the living room area, she noticed Clint sprawled out on the couch snoring as the TV pressed on... Jillian's voice was coming from the kitchen. Apparently she was talking to herself again... The ominous darkness engulfing the patio even though the porch light was on indicated Shader's presence. Wanda thought about smacking Clint in the head with a pillow, but decided against it and entered the kitchen.  
  
As she headed straight for the medicine cabinet to get some Tylenol, Wanda looked over at Jillian, who was in fact not talking to herself, but to a potato she was trying to make grow.  
  
"Jillian."  
  
"Wha?" Jillian sounded slightly dazed.  
  
"Have you been sending me anymore dreams lately?"  
  
Jillian slowly turned the swivel bar chair she was sitting in around till she faced Wanda. "How many times do I have to tell you, I sent *images*, not dreams, and it was your own deranged little mind that made them into freaky dreams, ok?"  
  
"So you didn't send any?"  
  
"No! And Bob Jr. didn't send any either, did you little Bob?" Jillian's attention was back on the spud.  
  
"Why did you name it *Bob*?" Wanda groaned. Jillian was still looking at the potato when she said.  
  
"You ok?"  
  
Wanda paused. "Yeah. Just a freaky nightmare, that's all..."  
  
Jillian hazarded a look over her shoulder that said, 'Really? Why don't I feel horribly convinced?' and then turned back around.  
  
"There's some tuna-salad in the fridge in you're hungry."  
  
"No thanks." Wanda said as she swallowed some water to wash the painkiller down. "I'll just go and watch some TV." Thus, Wanda left the room to go pursue her earlier goal that included Clint's rude awakening.  
  
Jillian sat there for a while, then went to fridge, took out the afore mentioned tuna salad, got a spare spork, and left the room. She walked past the murder-in-progress occurring on the couch and went out onto the patio.  
  
It was dark. Even the stars weren't in view overhead. Jillian turned and looked up above the doorframe where a shadowy figure was sitting on the ledge.  
  
"You haven't eaten anything tonight. Come down from there already!"  
  
"No. That's alright..."  
  
"Don't make me come up there."  
  
A sound like a soft sigh was heard and the figure melted down to the ground like an illusion made with mirrors and stood before her. Jillian smiled and handed the mutant the food. He seemed to shake his head slightly, but sat down at the patio table, his back to her, and began to eat.  
  
Shader was odd to say the least. It wasn't really his appearance that made him that way, though his appearance *was* odd, but rather the way he carried himself. From what Jillian had seen his physical mutation wasn't that bad. He was tall and unusually pale. His fingernails were long and sharp. His eyes were so black no pupil was visible. The only things that seemed to be out of place were his mouth and ears. He kept his mouth covered with an ever-present black scarf. His ears were harder to hide, but he tried. Those ears, that were very long and undeniably elfin, pointed backwards poking through his hair, and tried valiantly to escape the wide brim of the floppy witch-like hat he wore. He tried to hide everything.  
  
"It's getting cold; a storm's moving in..." She began as he finished. "You sure you don't want to come in?"  
  
"I'm sure." He nodded and tugged his scarf back into place before he turned around. "Thank you." With that said, his shadows lifted him up and once again he was holding vigil over the porch.  
  
****  
  
"Gah! Can't a guy get some beauty sleep around here, Beautiful?!"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"You know you could get off me..."  
  
"Nope."  
  
In the background Jillian walked by, looked at them, blinked once, and shook her head before she moved on.  
  
"You know I can't really breathe down here..."  
  
"Your point is?"  
  
"Ummm.... Breathing is good?"  
  
"That's nice."  
  
"So... Could you let me breathe?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Arrgh!!! Dammit, Beautiful! Let me up!!!"  
  
"Sorry. No can do."  
  
"Wanda, I'm serious! All the blood's rushing to my head! I might explode!!!"  
  
"Cry me a river."  
  
"Auuuugggghhhhh!!!!!!"  
  
"Will you two shut up and quit flirting??!!! You'll wake up my potato!!!"  
  
Wanda sputtered and fell of the couch, freeing Clint's head, which she had been sitting on.  
  
"We are NOT flirting, Jillian!!!!" A few glasses exploded in the kitchen in response.  
  
"I don't know about that, Beautiful..." Clint trailed off and caressed Wanda's arm in a way she did not approve of...  
  
"GET OFF!!!" The echo of the corresponding slap was recorded as far away as New Zealand...  
  
"Owie..." Clint muttered, holding his reddened cheek as Wanda stormed off... Jillian was leaning against the kitchen doorframe watching the scene with wide-eyed interest and Shader's head was poked through the patio door, eyebrows raised...  
  
"What'd I do?" Clint said mournfully.  
  
"I think you came on too strong..." Jillian answered.  
  
*************  
  
"Stupid dumb blond, always.... Can't keep his frikken hands to himself..." Wanda muttered murderously as she climbed back into bed.  
  
She snuggled into the mattress and pulled the covers tightly around her. Still muttering about the tortures she felt poor Clint deserved, she finally fell back to sleep..  
  
**********  
  
For one horrifying moment, she thought she was back in the asylum.  
  
It took a few moments for the differences of the two locations to outweigh the similarities. It was a small room, metallic and white. The door she sensed she had just been shoved through was barred heavily: she could not get out. She was trapped.  
  
That realization spurred her into panicked action.  
  
"Let me out!" She screamed, the sound echoing and far too familiar. She banged her fists against the metal till they bled. It was then that she noticed the sudden increase in temperature; it was becoming sickeningly hot. It came from above, so she looked up. The glassy ceiling was emitting a yellow light; one that began to become increasingly brighter till her eyes teared up, burned, and then went blind. She swung helplessly at the walls, trying to find a way out, but every breath she took seemed harder than the last. It was as if all the oxygen had been pumped out of the room. Though, she could not see the following blast of red light, she could feel it against her skin. For a moment she felt nothing.  
  
Then the horrible mind numbing pain began. She screamed, this she knew, but she couldn't hear herself. It felt as if all her bones were being snapped into pulp all at once and slowly reforming. Everything burned. She could feel the blood dripping out of her ears from shattered eardrums. The tips of her fingers and toes felt as if they had been blown off in an explosion. All along her back, neck, and shoulders she felt as if hundreds of dull ice picks were being shoved through her skin.  
  
And still it continued.  
  
*********  
  
"I just don't see what I did wrong!"  
  
"Clint darling, you have to understand. Wanda was abandoned in an asylum for the majority of her life. She was in maximum security; it wasn't as if she was allowed to socialize with a hell of a lot of people her own age, especially not guys. She's been out of the loop for so long, she doesn't really know how to react to being flirted with... And lets not forget that her first kiss was with Toad. That's enough to scar anyone."  
  
"I see your point. But *you* know how to react to being flirted with?"  
  
"Oh, that's easy. Just freak them out."  
  
"Freak them out?"  
  
"Like so..."  
  
Jillian leap into Clint's lap and threw her arms around his neck.  
  
"AWWWW! Cwint, you're such a cute widdle thing, aren't you???!!!" She gushed and batted her eyelashes.  
  
Clint shoved her off his lap and retreated to the other side of the room.  
  
"That's disturbing!"  
  
"But it worked, didn't it?"  
  
"If you want to send guys running screaming into the sunset, then yeah. But what if you actually like a guy?"  
  
"Bah. That'll be the day. None of you idiots are worth my time."  
  
A piercing scream echoed through the house.  
  
"Wanda!!?"  
  
******  
  
A few moments later, three mutants rushed into Wanda's bedroom. Wanda lay thrashing on the bed, sheets twisted around her obviously in the throes of some terrible nightmare.  
  
"Hey Beautiful, wake up." Clint said shaking her shoulder. There was no response. He shook her more firmly. "Wake up!!" Wanda kept on screaming. Jillian jumped on to the bed.  
  
"Wanda, snap out of it!" She yelled and began trying to pull Wanda up into a sitting position. Wanda's thrashing made it impossible. "Wanda! Wanda, what's wrong?" She grabbed her friend's shoulders and shook hard. "Why won't she wake up?!!! Wanda, wake up!!! Wake up!!!"  
  
*****  
  
Wanda opened her eyes and she was no longer in the little room, but she wasn't in her bedroom either. It looked like a desert, sand was everywhere, but it was cold. Very cold. She slowly picked up her frigid aching body and was seized by a stronger chill. In the distance she could hear voices, carried by the wind, rising and falling like waves in the sea. She couldn't make out any words, but she could hear the tone: both mournful and angry all at once. They grew louder and louder and louder till she had to cover her ears, but the voices persisted even then. She ran, but they followed. She stopped and they swarmed around her invading her thoughts till there was no more room to think or even be. Nothing was left but the loud angry, sad, enraged murmurs, mutterings, and screams.  
  
"Look at what you've done."  
  
"You don't deserve to live."  
  
"Die."  
  
"She's gone."  
  
"It's all because of you!!!"  
  
"It's your fault."  
  
"Hypocrite!"  
  
"The guilty one...."  
  
"Die."  
  
"Everything's gone."  
  
"What did you do?!"  
  
"Stop it!"  
  
"It never would have happened."  
  
"Look at what you've done!"  
  
"You bastard!"  
  
"What did I ever do to you?"  
  
"Die."  
  
"I didn't want it!"  
  
"Always the guilty one.."  
  
"You'll pay! You'll regret what you did to us!"  
  
"You'll never sleep another night!"  
  
"You'll never have a pleasant dream!"  
  
"I'll always be right here."  
  
"You've taken everything. It's all gone."  
  
"Monster!"  
  
"Heartless beast!"  
  
"You'll be punished for this crime against me."  
  
"And you've probably forgotten..."  
  
"The guilty one."  
  
"Stop it!"  
  
"The guilty one!"  
  
"Stop it!!!"  
  
"You're the guilty one."  
  
"Please, stop it!"  
  
"You must die."  
  
"No."  
  
"Die."  
  
"It's only a dream."  
  
"Die."  
  
"It's just a dream!"  
  
"Die."  
  
"It's *my* dream!"  
  
"Die."  
  
"STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT!!! It's MY dream! This is my dream!!! Stop it, stay out of it, and leave me the HELL alone!!!!!!"  
  
And with that, the Scarlet Witch disappeared from the cold desert.  
  
*******  
  
Her boots clicked as they connected with the smooth stone of the floor. Wanda stopped and marveled. She stood at the entrance to a spectacular archway. She stopped herself from going in, but this place felt different. It felt safe. She was not being watched here.  
  
She went in.  
  
It was beautiful. It was a hall, lined with doors, which stretched out endlessly. It was all made up of jet-black obsidian that had been polished so much that it sparkled. A silvery mist drifted over the floor. She looked at the doors. They were all identical. The only way to differentiate between then was the color of the light that streamed out from beneath. The light that came from beneath the first one on her left was red. The light from the first door on her right was pale lavender. Red was her favorite color, so she chose red.  
  
And that may have been a mistake. She opened the door and allowed herself to be engulfed by the warm red light. As soon as her vision cleared she found she was standing in the middle of a field of flames. Everything was strangely beautiful, even as it burned. She felt warm and protected in this inferno: as if nothing could touch her, hurt her, ever again. Experimentally, she passed a hand through the nearest flame. Instead of pain, she felt a strange tingling euphoria that had her yearning for more. She was about to put her other hand into the fire when she felt a strange feeling that someone was behind her. She turned and gasped.  
  
There, outlined in the flames was the form of her father. For some reason, she was afraid. Suddenly the flames surged upward in temperature, and panicked, she leapt back to the door and ran through, slamming it behind her.  
  
She stood in the hallway, leaning back against the closed door, as she caught her breath and sweat trickled down her brow. She had to choose another door. She had to, so she stumbled over to the once across the hall, opened it, and walked through.  
  
And immediately fell into a lavender body of water. Sputtering she came to the surface and swore. She floundered a bit till she heard a very familiar voice.  
  
"Well, that was graceful."  
  
Lo and behold, sitting on a big rock that was floating about two feet above the water, was Jillian wearing a striped lavender and yellow sundress that looked really odd on her.  
  
"Jillian?"  
  
"Kinda, but not really." Jillian helped her out of the water and onto the floating rock. Wanda coughed for a minute and wrung out her clothes before answering.  
  
"Who are you then?"  
  
"I'm a concept."  
  
"Wha?"  
  
"A concept. I'm your concept of Jillian. Your idea of her and what she means to you."  
  
"What does that mean? Where am I?"  
  
"You went into the hallway?"  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"Well, the hallway is the reflection of your mind. Every door in it represents a different aspect of yourself. This door, for example, represents the softer, more fuzzy side of you... You know, the one that doesn't want to maim everything all the time."  
  
"What are you doing here then?"  
  
"Every door has a concept on the other side."  
  
"So... Where I was before..."  
  
"That was the aspect of you that is anger. Magneto is the concept that resides there."  
  
"But why him?!"  
  
"If it weren't for him, that doorway wouldn't exist."  
  
"Why was I afraid?" Wanda was surprised to hear the words come out of her mouth.  
  
The concept took her hand and said enigmatically, "Sometimes too much anger isn't healthy." She turned Wanda's hand over so that it faced palm up, revealing a nasty burn where she had touched the flame. Wanda sucked in her breath; knowledge of the wound caused it to start throbbing in pain. "Just because something feels good, like anger, doesn't mean that you will come out of it unscarred."  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Wanda sighed, burying her face in her un-burnt hand. "It's a dream isn't it?"  
  
"It was, but the moment you came to this hallway, your mind wasn't dreaming anymore."  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"There's an intruder here. He's looking for you, but as long as you stay in the hallway, he won't succeed. His realm is merely that of dreams; he can't delve into other aspects of your consciousness."  
  
"Somebody else is running around in my head? Again?!"  
  
"Afraid so."  
  
"Damn. What the hell does this one want?"  
  
"Why don't you ask him yourself?"  
  
"I can do that?"  
  
"Sure. He'll be behind the door that is the aspect of you that is dreams. All you have to do is find the right one."  
  
"Ok. Now?"  
  
"Why not? Just rebound off the floating rocking chair over there and happy hunting!"  
  
"Alright. Bye then."  
  
"Bye bye!" The concept said brightly as Wanda leapt from the rocking chair to the doorway, and then disappeared.  
  
Once again, she found herself in the obsidian hall. She took a few steps forward. Gray light on her right, dark blue on her left. She brushed her fingertips against each door and felt nothing. She moved on. The next two doors were pink and yellow. She felt nothing from the yellow one. From the pink one, though, she felt a mild irritation, but decided her dreams would most definitely not be pink, and moved on. It went on like that for a while. Trusting her power to tell her which was the right door, touching polished obsidian and feeling nothing, till... Until she came to a green door. Dark green. She touched the surface and felt his frustration. He did not know she was there.  
  
Reached for the knob, twisted it, and flung the door open.  
  
The room within was cloaked, misty, and seemingly empty, save for the figure in the black trench coat that jerked around at her arrival. Wanda studied her adversary. He was several years older than she was, probably in his early twenties. He was tall, his hair was short and black, and his eyes were the same shade of green as the light that had streamed from beneath the door.  
  
"Who are you?" He asked, his voice as cold as his expression.  
  
"Who am I? You're the one screwing around in my head! That's supposed to be my line!"  
  
"What are you talking about? I'm here for him, not for you. Are you one of his henchmen here to save him?"  
  
"I don't know what the hell you're yammering on about. All I want to know is what you're doing in my dreams!"  
  
The man had the audacity to look surprised.  
  
"You're not Magneto."  
  
Wanda was silent for a moment.  
  
Then she went off.  
  
"WHAT????!!!!!! Of course I'm not that evil, stuck up, idiotic, heartless, conniving, brainless, hopeless, worthless, toothless, old, flaming bag of monkey shit!!! Why the frikken hell would you think I'm that bastard?!!!!! Huh????"  
  
"You have similar REM waves." He said quietly.  
  
"And that's your brilliant excuse?"  
  
His eyes narrowed and he began to disappear. Wanda faltered.  
  
"Wait a minute!!!" He remained. "Who are you and why do you want to do Magneto in?"  
  
He hesitated before answering. "I am Somnus. I wish his death for reasons of my own. Who are you?"  
  
"I'm the Scarlet Witch, and I want to kill him because he abandoned me in an insane asylum when I was eight years old."  
  
"And why did he do that?" The two began to circle one another.  
  
"Because he didn't feel like playing daddy to a difficult child..."  
  
"He's your father?"  
  
"Yup. And didn't I turn out fine?" Wanda allowed herself one of her classic through-the-bangs death glares that hinted of total insanity.  
  
Somnus raised a brow, and then nodded. "I see."  
  
Abruptly, the surroundings began to melt away with a gesture from the mutant.  
  
"Hey. What are you doing?"  
  
"I'm leaving. You will not hear from me again."  
  
"You can't get off that easy." She muttered, and then lunged. She grabbed the other mutant by the front of his coat, and for a moment, she could se into his own hallway of aspects and concepts. Realizing her intent, Somnus grabbed her and threw her off of him before disappearing completely.  
  
The world continued to fade until Wanda opened her eyes.  
  
*********  
  
The first thing she noticed was that she was very wet. The second was that Jillian was jumping up and down on the bed chanting, "Wake up, wake up, wake up, ect."  
  
Wanda's eyes snapped open. "Would you stop that?!" She yelled, sitting up.  
  
"It lives!" Clint proclaimed.  
  
"Wanda!!!!!!" Jillian screeched and jumped down to enfold Wanda in a crushing hug. "We were so worried! You just started screaming bloody murder and you wouldn't wake up!!! And then, Clint tried to wake you up and that didn't work, so I tried and that didn't work, then Shader tried, and you kinda sputtered for a minute, but you didn't wake up!!!" Wanda looked over at the shadow painter who was sheepishly holding a pitcher of water.  
  
"Wanda, what happened?" Clint asked, sounding serious. Wanda was still for a moment, and then she jumped out of bed, dragging Jillian with her.  
  
"Beautiful?"  
  
"Everybody get dressed, we have to go somewhere."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
Wanda pulled her red trench coat out of the closet. "We're going to go pay someone a little visit..."  
  
********  
  
Clint had been only slightly concerned when Wanda had declared that they go pay a visit or something like that, but now that they were in Boston, Massachusetts for no apparent reason, he was beginning to think that she might be delusional. She had just strolled up to the nearest airport, slapped down the money for three tickets (Shader didn't need one, he hid in the shadows), and hopped on the fastest jet to Boston. It was a mite scary. And now that they had arrived, she seemed to know exactly where she was going. Jillian, on the other hand, did not seem concerned at all. In fact, she was currently singing The Lumberjack Song, from Monty Python. Shader followed in the silent form of a shadowy puddle. Clint stirred his cup of coffee slowly and took a sip. He was becoming a tad bit frightened.  
  
Wanda stopped in front of a deserted looking house in the suburbs. This was the place she had seen.  
  
"I wish I were a girlie,  
  
Just like my dear papa!" Jillian finished.  
  
Wanda walked up to the front door, and found in unlocked. Cautiously, she stepped inside, Jillian, Shader, and then Clint followed. It wasn't that the house looked deserted. Everything was spotlessly clean, only there was no furniture. The adjoining rooms were empty, so they climbed the stairs. Clint and Jillian saw Wanda halt at the top then say,  
  
"It's nice to meet you in the flesh, Somnus."  
  
She stepped forward, Shader returned to his normal form, and her three followers came up to see Wanda conversing with a tired looking, black haired, green eyed, young man.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"I want to know about you and Magneto. What did he do to you to make you hate him?"  
  
Somnus smiled coldly. "You really want to know?"  
  
Wanda gave him a look that said, 'Duh.'  
  
He nodded. "Three years ago, in Europe, Magneto approached my fiancée Isolde and I. We were both young, and confused as to what we were. He said he could provide answers by giving us this... wonderful opportunity. He told us that he had a machine, that would advance our mutations to their finest point, so that we would never have to deal with the pain and alienation that would take place if they advanced naturally."  
  
"And you took him up on it?" Wanda asked.  
  
He laughed humorlessly. "No. Actually, we didn't. We decided that we were better off taking things as they went along... Only Magneto didn't tell us one thing... His machine was experimental... And he needed guinea pigs. He and some of his lackeys came back later, and kidnapped Isolde. I found out and followed, but it was too late."  
  
Somnus shook his head and strode out the room, throwing a random door open and beckoning for them to follow. They stood in the doorway and he gestured towards the bed.  
  
"That," He said, "is the reason I *hate* Magneto."  
  
Stretched out on the hospital-like bed, was the slender, pale, form of a rather pretty young woman. The bed seemed to swallow up her thin frame. Her long auburn hair, that seemed to be tangled with feathers, lay lovingly brushed out against the white pillow. A series of machines and wires were attached to her. Her lungs rose and fell under nearly translucent skin. A steady beeping mimicked her heartbeat.  
  
"She's been in a coma ever since he tested that machine on her..."  
  
"The nightmare." Wanda hissed, realization dawning. "The part of the nightmare where I was trapped in that small room, that was really through *her* eyes, when she was caught in the machine."  
  
"I wanted Magneto to have a taste of his own medicine. I apologize, you were not the one meant to experience that."  
  
"But I did." Her own experiences were bad enough, now to fully realize what he could do to other people... It only made her more determined. She watched as Somnus walked over to the bed and sat in a well- used chair beside it.  
  
"Does it bother you that I'm his daughter?"  
  
"I feel sorry for you."  
  
Wanda snorted. She wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. She watched at he straightened the sheet around the woman.  
  
"Why not join us?"  
  
He looked up.  
  
"We all have reason to hate Magneto, but if we all just go after him on our own time, he'll be ready for us every time. However, he won't expect all his enemies to suddenly start working together."  
  
"You want me, to join you, in this..." He gestured towards her and the others. "Carnival?"  
  
Wanda opened her mouth to reply, when a large smile graced her features. "Exactly. The Scarlet Witch's Carnival: a menagerie of freaks and demons whose prime mission in life is to make Magneto afraid of clowns. Will you assist us in this quest?"  
  
Somnus stared at her for a moment, then glanced down at the bed.  
  
"I cannot leave Isolde... But when the battle begins, I'll fight with you..."  
  
"Thank you." Wanda nodded, then turned around. "Alright. Let's go back home."  
  
"Back home?" Clint whined, "but we just got here!"  
  
"Now when Wanda says, Wanda says, you should know that Birdy!" Jillian babbled, dragging the protesting mutant back towards the airport. Shader shrugged, and went after them. Wanda followed.  
  
The sound of mechanical heartbeats filled the room.  
  
*****************  
  
Well! This is probably the second worst thing I've ever written. Ah well, if you're reading, review anyway.... 


	4. Death, destruction, and all that jazz

It is I, Jjah-Jjah! It lives!!! Muahahahahahaha! It lives! Well, I live anyway... School is out! Graduation is in a few days; I'll be out of high school for the long haul... And guess what I'll be devoting my summer to? My damn fan fiction, of course! Aren't you lovely people out there lucky?  
  
Ed: Umm. No?  
  
JJ: Shut up, bird. And for the record, the delay in updating is all Ed's fault.  
  
Now, let's do the review thang!  
  
roguehobbit: First, thanks for the lovely review! Second, Shader, Somnus, and Isolde are not Marvel characters: they're from my own demented mind. For the record, only three more oc will be in this fic, everyone else will be a Marvel character. And just so you know Somnus and Isolde aren't going to show up a lot... They're just there so that Wanda can expand her power, and to illustrate what a monster Magneto is. Ahahahahaha! This is going to be so much fun! I'm going to use so many obscure characters, no one is going to know what in the heck I'm talking about!!! (tehehe)  
  
Keeper Of The Apocolypse: Gee, thanks... Just had to get everything in there, ya know... Thanks for the review!  
  
goober: (Sniff) Thank you! You must be one of those nice people that everyone keeps telling me about!  
  
Yea, Yea... Here's the disclaimer...  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned X-men, then Wanda and Pietro would have been in the movie, but they're not, are they? Nooooooooooooooooo!!!  
  
00000000000 00000000000 0000000000 0000000000  
  
Chapter Four: Death, destruction, and all that jazz.  
  
"Are you serious?" The disbelief in the sharp shooting mutant's voice was apparent.  
  
"Hello? We only just got out of an asylum, where in the hell would we have learned?"  
  
There was a small silence.  
  
"So, you're serious?"  
  
"YES, Clint! We don't know how to drive, get it into your thick skull!!!"  
  
"Oh, and Shader doesn't know how either, but I don't think he cares!"  
  
"Ye Gods! Are you telling me that I'm the only person who can drive in this house? A house full of functioning and healthy sixteen year olds?!"  
  
"Repeatedly."  
  
"Actually, I'm seventeen. Wanda's the baby of the family!"  
  
"Damn... Well, we're gonna have to fix that..."  
  
And it was with those words that the nightmare began....  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
"This," said Clint, "is a car." He gestured towards the dark gray automobile in front of him. "A car is meant to be driven. You get into the car, and you drive it." He looked over at Wanda and Jillian. "Any questions?" Jillian raised her hand. "Yes?"  
  
"How come the kids never let the rabbit have any Trix?"  
  
Wanda cackled. Clint groaned. "Related to driving?"  
  
Silence.  
  
"Ok, then. Who wants to go first?"  
  
Silence.  
  
More silence.  
  
A whooollle lot of silence...  
  
A very large, noticeable amount of silence...  
  
"I take it I have no volunteers?"  
  
Siiiilllllllleeeeeeennnnnccccceeeee...  
  
"I'll take that as a yes."  
  
It was then that Jillian yelped like she had been kicked, (which she had), and leapt into the air in such a way that made Clint think that she was volunteering.  
  
"Jillian! Thank you!"  
  
Jillian turned and glared at an unnaturally innocent looking Wanda. "I'll get you for this my pretty, and your little dog, too!" She hissed. Wanda smiled. Jillian resignedly went off to her fate.  
  
"You get in here. Now buckle up. Start the car. Now, that pedal is for gas, the other one is brake. Here's your emergency brake. Here's you turn signal, up for right, down for left... And... Let's put it in drive."  
  
The car began to slowly inch forward. "Foot on the break." Jillian pressed down on a pedal, and the car screeched forward, and began plowing towards the nearest tree. "The other brake!!!" The car lurched to halt, giving all the occupants whiplash.  
  
"Okaay..." Clint started, "That was.. All right. Now let's... Hey! Jillian, where are you, ack!" While he had been talking, Jillian had unbuckled her seatbelt, rolled down the window, and escaped, sprinting towards the woods at top speed. Clint quickly climbed into the driver's seat and put the steadily moving car into park, before getting out of the car and running after her.  
  
Meanwhile, Wanda was rolling on the ground, laughing manically as her two best friends ran screaming into the forest.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Three hours later :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Wanda sat, calmly sipping on a soda she had gotten for herself and reading a magazine as she watched Clint return, Jillian slung over his shoulder.  
  
"You're learning to drive, whether you like it or not!!!"  
  
"Not! Definitely, not! Jillian no likey big scary car thing!!!! Put me down, spawn of Satan!!!"  
  
Clint tossed the wailing mutant back into the car and raised the window. As he moved back around the car to get in the passenger side, the despairing expression on Jillian's face became a full-blown evil smile.  
  
Clint was reaching for the door handle when he heard a metallic click. He stopped for a fraction of a second, and then tried the door.  
  
It would not open...  
  
"Dammit Jillian, unlock the car!"  
  
Jillian's answer was to press her face up against the glass and make rude expressions.  
  
"God!" He yelled, frustrated. The key was in the ignition; there was no way to get in, till Jillian got out. Which didn't seem like it would be any time soon. Jillian found his secret stash of cheesy puffs under the seat and turned on radio, setting it to some 80's station and turning up the volume.  
  
Here I am!  
  
Gonna rock you like a hurricane!  
  
Here I am!..  
  
Clint sent a disgusted look at Wanda, who was once again laughing her behind off.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Later that night... ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Clint stared through the window out at his car with a haunted expression. Strains of 80's music drifted softly on the wind. Jillian was still out there. As far as he could tell, she had crawled into the backseat and curled up under some old newspapers and fallen asleep.  
  
"You know, she's not coming out tonight..." Wanda smirked, behind him. He turned and fixed her with a bloodshot glare.  
  
"She's molesting my car." He squeaked, then turned around and continued to stare at the vehicle.  
  
Wanda blinked, and wisely left him alone.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
It was around 10:30 the next morning that Jillian had to go to the bathroom. Clenching the car keys in her teeth, she slithered out the carefully opened, then locked passenger door and proceeded to creep towards the house. Quietly, she began to scale the wall underneath the bathroom window. She reached the sill and pulled herself up. She was home free!  
  
At least until she saw who was staring out the bathroom window directly at her.  
  
"I knew you'd have to come here sooner or later.." He grinned insanely.  
  
Jillian laughed nervously and gulped..  
  
"Ummm... Hi?"  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Wanda was shoving a piece of French toast into her mouth when Clint came into the kitchen and said, "Alrighty Beautiful. Driving lessons begin once you're done eating. See you outside!" He jingled the keys and hopped a bit too merrily out the door.  
  
Wanda sat there for a moment.  
  
(Umm. Jillian?)  
  
(.... Yes?)  
  
(Are you ok?)  
  
(...No...)  
  
(Where are you?)  
  
Silence.  
  
(Jillian?! Where are you?)  
  
(It's a bit embarrassing.)  
  
(Where?!)  
  
(Ummmm)  
  
A few minutes later, Wanda was standing in the bathroom, looking down at her friend, an eyebrow raised.  
  
"Oh, shut up..." Jillian snarled.  
  
"I don't even want to know how he tied you to a toilet..."  
  
"With lots and lots of toilet paper... Now, cut me loose!"  
  
Wanda set to work freeing Jillian from her double-quilted restraints, and a few minutes later, the mutant lay on the floor panting in rage.  
  
"We must do nasty things to him, Wanda! Death, destruction, chaos and all sorts of good stuff like that there!!!"  
  
Wanda snickered under her breath. "He tied you to the potty..."  
  
"Wanda!"  
  
Wanda burst out laughing.  
  
Ten minutes later, Jillian watched unenthused, as Wanda continued to roll on the floor, hysterical tears running down her face.  
  
"It's not that funny..."  
  
"Yes it is!!!"  
  
Jillian pounced, and after being beaten with several toilet paper cores, Wanda stopped laughing and spoke.  
  
"Ok..." She wheezed. "We'll get revenge..."  
  
"Oh, yay!" Jillian exclaimed and enfolded her friend in a hug. "Thank you Wanda!"  
  
"No prob. After all, how am I going to get this entire dark vengeance thing down if I don't practice?"  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Clint was getting impatient. Wanda hadn't come out yet. He waited for a while longer, and then cranky from loss of sleep; he barreled into the house in search of the wayward mutant.  
  
She was not in the kitchen. Apparently she had finished breakfast... It was the sound of the television going full-blast that lured him into the living room. There, sitting on the couch watching Golden Girls, was Wanda.  
  
"What are you doing in here? Didn't I tell you to come out when you were done eating?"  
  
Wanda didn't look from the TV screen. "Yes."  
  
"Well then, come on out! You have to learn how to drive, you know!"  
  
"I already know how to drive..."  
  
Clint was silent for a moment.  
  
"But you said earlier that you didn't know how!"  
  
"What do you want from me? I'm crazy; I'm entitled to say whatever I want, reality be damned!"  
  
"But you said..."  
  
"You want me to prove it to you?" Wanda turned and looked at him down her nose. Clint raised an eyebrow in answer and uttered the words that sealed his fate.  
  
"Yes I do."  
  
"Ok."  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
The seatbelt buckle clicked as Wanda calmly slid it into place.  
  
"Are you sure about this?" Clint asked hesitantly.  
  
"What's the matter? Afraid of woman drivers?"  
  
"Of course not!"  
  
"Then get in!"  
  
For some reason Clint felt a sense of impending doom... However, he certainly couldn't back down now. Slowly, he climbed into the passenger side. Wanda sat in the driver's seat, key in hand, looking at him neutrally.  
  
"So, show me."  
  
Wanda put the key in the ignition and started the car.  
  
"Buckle up." She deadpanned, then turned around, put the car in reverse, and lurched back, tires screeching. Clint was thrown back and smacked his head against his seat's headrest. As he fumbled with the seatbelt, he looked up for a mere second and saw what looked like Jillian, wearing a black veil and holding a funeral wreath... Then, the car squealed forward, making the seatbelt dig into his skin and sending a dust cloud up behind. In only a few seconds they were down the lengthy driveway and on a winding county road.  
  
"What the..."  
  
"No bad words!" Wanda yelled, interrupting him.  
  
Clint clutched as his armrests as his precious car swerved drunkenly across the road at roughly a hundred twenty mph.  
  
"Wanda!!!!! I thought you said you could drive!!"  
  
"What do you think I'm doing?! Wrestling an anteater?!"  
  
"GAAAAAHH!" Clint screeched as they narrowly missed and oncoming car.  
  
"Road hog!" Wanda leaned out the window and bellowed, "I swear, people just can't drive worth crap these days..."  
  
"Wanda, pull over and let me drive!"  
  
Wanda laughed evilly.  
  
"If only life were that simple..."  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
An hour and a half later, the fun had yet to end.  
  
"Oh God, dammit! Would you stop the frikken car already???!!!!"  
  
Wanda proceeded to turn the radio onto a random heavy metal station. A bridge came into view and Wanda floored it.  
  
"Wanda, please!"  
  
"I see your mouth moving, but I can't hear the words!" Wanda taunted over the music. She passed a lone semi truck and then switched to the wrong lane and kept going.  
  
"Wanda! STOP!"  
  
Wanda slammed on the breaks and the car slid several feet till it hit the guard railing, busted it, and finally stopped with the hind wheels spinning in open air. It took Clint, who had had the wind knocked out of him, several minutes to respond.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT??!!"  
  
"You told me to stop."  
  
Clint stuttered for a while, and then growled, "I didn't mean--. Oh God. There better not be any dents, that's all I gotta say!"  
  
And that's when the whole car started tilting backwards and began to fall off the bridge. Clint understandably freaked out and asked Wanda to do something. Wanda looked over her shoulder and surveyed the predicament with a look of detached amusement. Then, with a girlish scream from Clint, and no reaction whatsoever from Wanda, the car fell off the bridge.  
  
"Gaaahhh! What did I ever do to you?!" Clint bellowed, closed his eyes, and scrunched down in his seat. Wanda looked over at him, smiled, and with a flex of her fingers, a shimmering blue light engulfed the car... The car paused in its fall, and then smoothly began flying back towards the house.  
  
Several minutes later, Clint was still scrunched down in the seat, and becoming rather puzzled as to why they hadn't all died in a fiery explosion yet. Exasperated, Wanda goosed him in the ribs. He jumped.  
  
"Hey, Clint. You know that scene in ET with the flying bicycles?"  
  
At first there was no response, then Clint poked his head up and said, "Yes?" He looked at the scenery peacefully moving by with wonder for a moment before Wanda responded.  
  
"This ain't it..."  
  
Poor Clint didn't even have enough time to draw in breath for a scream before the car flipped upside down and started into a nosedive...  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
About an hour later, Jillian stopped her game of Frisbee with Clint's funeral wreath as Clint's car touched down in the driveway, sending up a dust cloud. Wanda brought the car to a halt and parked. Clint was nowhere to be seen. Jillian rushed over.  
  
"Where's you passenger? Did he bail?"  
  
Wanda smirked, reached over, and shoved the passenger side door open. A boneless mass that looked suspiciously like Clint flopped out onto the ground.  
  
"He couldn't take it." She mused smugly.  
  
"What do we do with him?" Asked Jillian. They both stood over him and Wanda sighed.  
  
"We could always bury him I suppose."  
  
"Yeah, but I don't really feel like digging a hole right now."  
  
"Who said we have to dig a hole? We could just build a funeral pyre."  
  
"Do we have any matches?"  
  
"We don't need any, I can light things on fire you know."  
  
"You can also make things explode..."  
  
"Well... Isn't there some kind of burial practice where you put them up in a tree?"  
  
"You want to lug his sorry ass up a tree?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Besides, what if you walked under the tree one day? All sort of nasty stuff might ooze down and land on your head!"  
  
"Ok, ok! Why don't we just put him in a boat and send him down the river? Vikings used to that, I think..."  
  
"Dang Wanda, you sure know a lot about disposing of bodies!"  
  
"What can I say? It's a gift..."  
  
All the while during their conversation, the two girls failed to notice the figure at their feet slowly but surely dragging himself away. When he finally reached the house, they were going into how they could embalm him and wrap him in toilet paper with aloe.  
  
The door to the kitchen slammed open and Shader, who was getting himself something out of the refrigerator, jumped up about a foot. He heard a strange squeaking sound. He looked and saw Clint, dragging himself across the tile floor.  
  
"If you value your life, don't say a word..." Clint gasped. He dragged himself under the kitchen table and stayed there.  
  
Shader stared at the table for a few minutes and then shrugged and left. People just got more confusing everyday.  
  
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AHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I finished! Read and Review! 


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